The present invention relates to generally rectangularly shaped decorative trim strips of the type attached to automobile doors and the like for decoration.
Trim strips of various configurations have been used in the automotive industry to decorate and protect the surfaces of an automobile, especially the body side surfaces. In recent years, emphasis has been placed on replacing chromed metallic moulding strips with improved plastic trim strips which do not corrode and can be adhesively attached to the automobile body without fasteners. There are a number of examples of such trim strips in the patent literature.
Madonia, U.S. Pat. No. 4,296,155 (1981), discloses a decorative body side moulding in which a decorative strip is laminated to an extruded strip of a pliable material and the two strips are overcoated with a weather-resistant coating of acrylic monomer.
Narita, U.S. Pat. No. 4,220,681 (1980), teaches a trim in which a thin metal layer is laminated to a plastic substrate and coated with a soft PVC resin provided with a matte surface.
Wenrick, U.S. Pat. No. 4,010,297 (1977), discloses a composite trim strip made up of two adhesively bonded non-coextensive longitudinal body portions, one body portion being wider than and adapted to receive the other body portion. The body portions are assembled and attached to the side of an automobile using elastomeric adhesives which serve to distribute impact.
Sawa et al, U.S. Pat. No. 3,914,482 (1975), illustrates a moulding wherein a reflective layer is deposited on a rigid synthetic resin base which is coated with a clear synthetic resin layer and overcoated with a protective layer of synthetic resin of uniform thickness.
Kent, U.S. Pat. No. 3,843,425 (1974), relates to a decorative trim having a longitudinal passage therethrough which is filled or coated with a decorative material such as a paint. The trim is formed with a shallow channel on its underlying surface which carries adhesive.
Waugh, U.S. Pat. No. 4,446,179 (1984), assigned to the same assignee as the present invention, discloses a decorative trim strip which may consist of an elongate decorative foil member having thereon an impact-resistant overlay having radiused edges and providing a lens effect to the foil member. An adhesive is used to bond the trim strip to the surface to be decorated.
Notwithstanding the growing usage of such trim strips, their usage presents certain problems. For one, when used to decorate a specified area such as the width of a door, the trim strip must be positioned quite precisely to provide an aesthetically pleasing appearance. If not positioned precisely, one end of the door exterior is not decorated and the overlap on the other end must be hand trimmed to remove the overlap. A second problem encountered is that the end of the trim strip may delaminate by accident or action of vandals and give an unsightly appearance. For these and other reasons, there is a need for improved decorative trim strips.